The UK-based online store, Book Depository, known for its free shipping, will close down this month, upsetting many local book lovers in the SAR.

In a statement, the online seller told users that it would take its last order by 7pm local time on 26 April, after being in business for nearly two decades.

A student, who gave her surname as Yeung, said she was very upset when she heard the news, adding that the site provides a wide selection of book deals.

“There’s no other site with such a big collection of books available at such affordable prices,” she said. “So now that the company is shutting down, I honestly don’t know where to go next. When I go to Eslite Bookstore and see a book, the first thing I do is go to Book Depository and get the book from there because of the low prices and free shipping.”

Another patron of the store, surname Wu, said he had been getting books from Book Depository for the past nine years and that most of his books are from the store.

Wu said a lot of the textbooks he used in secondary school were also available there with cheaper price tags compared to a lot of official retailers.

“They have everything I’m looking for,” he added. “Especially sometimes they have very niche books, very specific books about certain subjects like philosophy or religion that you might not find in a typical bookstore in Hong Kong.

“Right now, if I were to look for anything I want to read, I’d probably have to use multiple sites to find the books that I want. Versus in the past, Book Depository was more of a one-stop shop for everything.”

Wu said he doesn’t know a site that’s as good or as reliable as Book Depository but that budget book-lovers can use alternatives such as Amazon, the online seller’s parent company.